Crafts on African Animals for Preschoolers

The African Continent

Africa is the second largest continent on the planet Earth, and it is one of the heaviest populated. There are over eight hundred million people who live on the continent of Africa. There are fifty-three countries in total that make up Africa.

This place is widely known for its gorgeous animals and their abundance in resources. They have a vast amount of minerals, oil, diamonds, and other resources in its soil. Africa’s animals are some of the most exotic in the world such as the elephant, zebra, giraffe, and monkey.

These animals are the most featured exhibits in almost every zoo in the world. Your preschool children will learn not only the names of the animals, but also some fun facts about each of them. This article will concentrate on some of the three most popular African animals.

These crafts will be based on the monkeys, zebras, and elephants from Africa. These crafts will be easy for your class to do and the preschoolers will have fun as they learn about the animals of Africa.

Crafts

African Animals: You will need 8 x 10 or larger photos printed of African animals. You should incorporate as many as you like in this project. You are not limited in which animals you choose, but it is suggested that you jot down at least two fun facts to teach the children about each one. Hold up the photo of the animal and teach them that animals name and any other information you might want them to know. Ensure that you include the three animals that they will do their crafts on later within your group of photos.

Instructions: Give each child a colored piece of construction paper for the background of their artwork. Stencil a horse on the white paper, and cut it out. Each child should have a stenciled horse for their artwork. Glue the horse on their background. Cut various sizes of strips of felt for each child and help them glue the pieces perpendicular to their stenciled horses. Cut a jagged piece of felt for the mane, and cut another jagged piece for the tail. Glue both pieces to the zebra, and allow the children to personalize their artwork.

Elephant Craft:

Materials: You will need to use a template of an elephant for your children’s artwork or craft. You will need to gather construction paper, glue, scissors, crayons, and craft doll eyes.

Instructions: You will need to print out one of the templates for each child. Allow the children to color the elephant while it is still intact in the template. Cut the elephant out of the template. Paste the assembled elephant onto a piece of construction paper as the background. Glue the doll eyes onto the elephant’s face.

Monkey Mask:

Materials: You will need to use a template for the monkeys face. You will need to collect paper plates, craft sticks or Popsicle sticks, brown felt, scissors, glue, crayons, and construction paper.

Instructions: Allow the children to color the monkeys face on the template while it is intact. Help the children cut out the face from the template. Cut a generous amount of felt for the monkeys head and paste it to the paper plate. Paste the monkeys face on the paper plate over the felt. Cut out the eyes on the mask. Paste the ears on the backside of the paper plate and let dry.

These crafts are easy to do and they are fun for the children. These crafts will bring just a little bit of Africa to your classroom while teaching them about the animals who are the stars of most zoos worldwide.